WNBA State of the League: “We are fully focused on growing our league.”

By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
Photo: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas, NV — In the first half of the WNBA’s 27th season, the league is experiencing increased attendance with sell-outs across the league, record viewerships, multiple partnerships and high merchandise sales.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who gave her “State of the WNBA” address to the media before Saturday’s All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada, described this time in the league’s history as “historic and important work.”  

“This is important work we’re doing to set the league up. These aren’t incremental changes,” she said. “They may seem like it, but it’s a broad plan to help us out for a long time. We are fully focused on taking the appropriate steps and timing to grow our league.”

Engelbert, league Commissioner since 2019, shared that at the mid-way point of the season, the WNBA is on record pace for viewership, attendance, digital consumption and merchandise. Memorable performance of WNBA players on the court has led to viewership growth across its national television partners – ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 – and double-digit growth for attendance and digital consumption over last year Engelbert said.

Highlights from the season so far include:

ON THE COURT: WNBA players continue to deliver record performances on the court, which include:

• An explosion of 40-point games by players featuring seven this season through Sunday, July 9, more than twice the previous high of three which was accomplished in three different seasons. (Breanna Stewart 45 and 43; Rhyne Howard 43; DeWanna Bonner, Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale 41 each and Kelsey Plum 40).

• Howard became the second youngest player (23 years, 64 days) in WNBA history to score 40 or more points in a game, trailing only Candace Parker (40 points on July 9, 2008, at 22 years, 81 days). In the process, Howard also became the youngest WNBA player to record 40 or more points and at least five made three-point shots in a game.

• Aliyah Boston became the eighth rookie selected to start the All-Star Game and the first since 2014 (Chamique Holdsclaw, 1999; Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings, 2002; Maya Moore, 2011; Elena Delle Donne and Brittney Griner, 2013; and Shoni Schimmel, 2014). She also was named the league’s Rookie of the Month in May and June.

• Breanna Stewart became the fastest player to eclipse 4,000 career points.

• Diana Taurasi, already the only WNBA player to eclipse the 8,000-point and 9,000-point plateaus, is nearing 10,000 career points. Entering the All-Star break, she has 9,914 and needs 86 more to reach 10,000. 

VIEWERSHIP: Combined viewership for the WNBA across its national networks (ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2) is up 67 percent over last year, averaging 556,184 viewers. Currently this season is pacing to be the most-watched regular season across the league’s networks in over 20 years (2002). Additional viewership highlights for this season include:

• The Dallas Wings vs. the Los Angeles Sparks game on ABC was the most viewed game this season, averaging 733,000 viewers, on Sunday, June 25.

 • The Phoenix Mercury vs. the New York Liberty game on CBS was the most viewed game on CBS, averaging 694,000 viewers, on Sunday, June 18.

 • The Las Vegas Aces vs. the Seattle Storm on ABC was the most viewed opening weekend game on any network since 2012 averaging 684,000 viewers on Saturday, May 20.

 • The Phoenix Mercury vs. the Los Angeles Sparks game was the most-watched regular season game on cable in 24 years and the most-viewed opening day on ESPN network in 11 years, averaging 683,000 viewers on ESPN, on Friday, May 19.

ATTENDANCE: WNBA attendance is up 27 percent this season through the same number of games compared to last year with more than 787,000 fans attending 2023 regular season games this season. Currently, this season’s attendance is pacing to be the highest average attendance since 2018. Other highlights include:

• The highest attended WNBA game this season marked the return of Britney Griner to Phoenix with 14,040 fans in attendance to see the Mercury take on the Chicago Sky on Sunday, May 21.

 • The Seattle Storm retired Sue Bird’s jersey in an emotional ceremony on Sunday, June 11, with 13,213 fans in attendance for its game against the Washington Mystics, marking the third highest attended game this season.

 • The first WNBA Canada Game presented by Tangerine, which saw the Chicago Sky defeat the Minnesota Lynx, 82-74, in a preseason game, was played before a sold-out crowd of approximately 20,000 fans at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday, May 13.

RECORD REVENUE: The WNBA has achieved double-digit growth for partnership revenue this year, which is at an all-time 27-year high, season to date.

MERCHANDISE: The league has seen a surge in merchandise sales this season. Overall sales of WNBA merchandise at the NBA Store in New York are up 78 percent versus this season compared to the same time last year. In addition, sales of merchandise at Dick’s Sporting Goods are up 68 percent compared to the same time last season.

WNBA APP: Since the WNBA launched the digital transformation of its app at the start of the season, WNBA App monthly active users have grown 147 percent over last year.

SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT: The WNBA is on a record pace for video views across all its social media platforms with 155 million video views halfway through the season, which is 84 percent of the total video views the league amassed for the entire 2022 regular season (186 million in 2022).

WNBA LEAGUE PASS: The league’s out-of-market live game package has experienced a 19 percent growth in subscriptions so far this season vs. the same point last year.

Engelbert expressed excitement at the fan engagement this season which is resulting in increased interaction and record viewership. 

“We just saw huge All-Star voting numbers this year, which was great, showing our fans are really engaging with our content,” she said. “We were up 33 percent there. The ESPN draft show to draft the All-Star players averaged almost a half a million viewers, up 174 percent from last year. 

The league is also expanding its work with youth programs and much of that was highlighted during All-Star weekend. 

“We also did a lot around youth basketball during All-Star, developing the next generation of talent, which is a big focus of ours. We had our first annual, hopefully, all-girls Basketball Without Borders global camp featuring 39 female prospects from 24 countries,” Engelbert said. “We had a Jr. WNBA-NBA showcase presented by Nike that included elite 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls from around the U.S. and the world.

“We know how important that is in building confidence in youth girls to stay in sports when they get to that 13, 14 years of age,” she continued. “I know for someone like me, who was a Title IX kid growing up in the ’70s, that it was really important for me to stay in sports and build confidence to be a leader.”

When it comes right down to it, the fans are what help drive the league and they are watching and engaging in record numbers, something Engelbert is thankful for. 

“Our investment in digital transformation, the WNBA App and WNBA.com, has given fans more ways to interact. We are trying to make it easier to be a fan and take away the friction that we’ve experienced in our fans,” she said. “We listen to our fans.”